06 Feb 2015

IFA Farm Business Chairman Tom Doyle has said that the banks must engage more directly with their farmer customers to offer low cost, simple, payment options as the cost of cheques increases. He was responding to the recent move by Bank of Ireland to increase charges on certain services, including cheques, which will come into effect at the end of the month.

Tom Doyle said, “Farmers continue to use cheques for some of their payment requirements and will continue to do so into the future. IFA is clear that cheques must remain an accepted form of payment, as per the commitment contained in the National Payments Plan. There cannot be a continued increase in the cost of cheques, without simple and secure alternatives being in place”.

He concluded, “I am calling on the banks to engage directly with their farmer customers to alert them to the changes in charges and to assist them to change some of their payment methods to secure, lower cost alternatives”.